Power of Two
by Leto
Summary: Joe and Mimi are the two 'weak ones' of the group, supposedly. But nobody is weak. There is so much they could have done after splitting off from the rest of the group, even travelled between worlds...
1. Default Chapter Title

Power of Two **Power of Two**  
by [Leto][1]

Mimi and Joe had just left the rest of the group. Mimi was shaking badly, still reacting to all the fighting and death they had just witnessed. Joe took her hand and calmly led her through the forest, their Digimon waddling along after them. 

"I am so glad to be away from them," said Mimi finally. The small group paused to rest, and Mimi sank down against a tree, hugging her legs to her chest.

"I know what you mean," said Joe carefully, "it gets too much sometimes." 

"Do you think we'll be safe here?"

"Well, we're still in Puppetmon's territory, so I think we should get moving again soon. We're no match for him. I guess the others will go after him. What do you want to do?" 

"I want to go home," said Mimi, in a voice that trembled, but she didn't cry. 

Joe looked helplessly at Gomamon and Palmon. They shrugged. Big help, he thought. 

"Well, I don't know if home is much safer right now," he said finally, "I think we should stay and do our job. We must be here for a reason." 

Mimi looked at the ground. "Do they really need us here though?" she said finally, "I mean, what can we do?" 

The others were shocked. 

"Of course we need you, Mimi," said Palmon. 

"We can't just give up because we're not as strong as the others," said Gomamon. 

"What're you talking about, Gomamon," snapped Joe, "of course you're as strong as the others." 

"But the Dark Masters are Mega Digimon," said Palmon, "and we're not." 

"And we're no angels either!" said Gomamon, with a slight grin. 

"And it took us longer to digivolve," said Palmon. 

"But we DID digivolve," argued Gomamon, "and your crests helped beat VenomMyotismon!" 

"That's right, Mimi!" said Palmon happily, "and if it weren't for us, the others wouldn't have escaped from Toy Town, or beaten Kokatorimon..." 

There was a pause while everyone looked at Mimi to see what her reaction was. 

"Let's keep walking," she said. 

They did. 

*** 

"What IS this place?" 

The two kids came through a clearing in the forest and stared. There was a great heap of rubble, as though a huge building had collapsed. The only part still in one piece was a great stone door. 

"It looks kind of like Myotismon's castle." 

"But what's it doing here?" 

"Who knows? The whole digiworld is messed up!" 

They picked their way through the rubble, glancing around as though looking for something. Gomamon laughed suddenly and picked something up, holding it in both flippers. It was the key card bearing his picture. 

Mimi made her way to a stone tablet and traced the patterns on it with her finger. 

"Maybe we really could leave," she said thoughtfully, "I'm sure nobody would miss us..." 

"Mimi!" everyone exclaimed. 

"You can't be serious!" added Joe, "can't you see we're needed here? It's okay if you don't want to fight but there must be something we can do instead!" 

"But, Joe... our families... they might need us more." 

"Oh. I get it. Maybe we could be more useful in our world..." 

"If there are still monsters there..." 

Palmon and Gomamon glanced at each other. They weren't sure about this, but knew they would go with their partners. 

"Well, Mimi," said Joe, "if you're set on it, I'm coming with you." 

"Then let's find the rest of these key cards and get going!" 

Mimi had her smile back and both of them dropped to hands and knees, sorting through the rubble. Gomamon moved as though swimming, crawling under rocks, and Palmon hauled aside larger pieces with her ivy. Finally, they had the nine key cards. 

"Well, Joe, you know what to do!" said Mimi cheerfully. He looked at the cards in his hands and sweatdropped. 

"Actually, I'm not positive, but I think Izzy ordered them in terms of their levels and types." 

He laid cards out as he muttered, "virus, vaccine, data, rookie, champion, ultimate... does this look right to you guys?" 

The others nodded, a little blankly, and he slapped Gomamon's card into its slot. 

"At least we don't have to worry about which is the right card," Joe said. 

"Of course there's no question that any card with ME on it has gotta be the right card!" said Gomamon. 

"Sure..." 

The great door creaked, shooting light all over the castle ruins, and edged its way open. 

"You're sure about this?" asked Joe, nervously. Mimi nodded, biting her lip. 

"Are you going to come or stand there staring at each other until the door closes?!" said Gomamon. 

Joe grinned. Without Tai and the others, he had thought they were without someone who was reckless or too brave, but no chance of that... 

"Interdimensional travel makes me nauseous," he said, but took a step forwards. 

The four of them stepped nervously through the gate, and found themselves spinning, falling, surrounded by first light and then darkness. There was a rumbling sound all around them and Palmon wrapped her ivy around everyone to keep them together. Suddenly they all stopped falling, and they were on the ground again and the effects of the interdimensional travel faded. 

And they were in a place that none of them recognised. 

The ground beneath them seemed to be asphalt, the sky was overcast and the charred remains of trees, skeleton trees, covered the landscape. There was a faint smell of smoke and charcoal in the air. 

"Um, this might be a stupid question, but where are we?" said Joe. 

"Oh no!" screeched Mimi, "what if this is the end of the world? What if the whole world got nuked or something and this is all that's left?" 

"I doubt that," said Gomamon calmly, "why don't we take a look around and see if we can get our bearings?" 

"Do you think you got the key cards wrong?" said Palmon. 

"I don't think so," said Joe, turning a little pale. He didn't want to be responsible for THIS. 

As there were not many other options, the four friends started walking. For some miles there seemed nobody else around, but in time they came to a long silver road. 

"Silver!" exclaimed Joe, "that's pretty extravagant!" 

"Well, it's certainly a lot prettier than anything else we've seen around here," said Mimi, leaning down to touch it. It rippled under the slight pressure and Mimi jumped back with a squeal. 

"It's alive!" she shouted. 

"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more," said Joe drily. 

"What are you talking about, I don't see anyone around here named Toto," said Gomamon. 

"And where's Kansas?" asked Palmon. 

Joe was going to answer but all of them were distracted; the road had been sending out ripples from the point that Mimi had touched, and now the air was rocked with sound. 

"A huge roaring sound," shouted Joe, "that's never a good sign!" 

"No kidding, Joe!" shouted Mimi, "should we run or what?" 

"No time!" 

The two jumped backwards as the road, acting almost as water, was broken by twin creatures leaping from it. 

"I'm Spikemon!" shouted one of them. 

"I'm Spearmon!" shouted the other. 

"I'm GOMAMOOOOOOOOOOON!" screamed Gomamon, not to be outdone. Everyone clapped their hands over their ears and glared at him. 

"Well, I don't think this is our world," said Joe, "what with the large metal Digimon glaring at us and all." 

"You are certainly not normal humans," said Spikemon. 

"You are certainly deserving of being killed," said Spearmon. 

"Not while we're here!" snapped Palmon, and promptly digivolved. Gomamon followed suit. 

"At least our digivices still work," said Joe. 

"What was that they said about 'normal humans'?" said Mimi, "I most certainly am normal!"

"Shut up!" said Spikemon. 

"Geez, what's your problem," said Mimi, "you're pretty uppy for someone who must be worth a fortune at the jeweller's." 

"He said shut up!" roared Spearmon. The two metal Digimon took hands and shot up into the air. 

"Where did they go?" said Mimi, "did they try to escape us?" 

"I doubt that very much," said Joe with his usual optimism, "I think we should move away from here RIGHT NOW." 

"Huh?" Mimi squeaked in protest as Joe grabbed her wrist and yanked her away. He ran, almost dragging her behind him. The two Digimon shrugged and followed. 

"Joe, what's the hurry? JOE!" 

The ground shook suddenly and the kids whirled. Spikemon and Spearmon had dove back into the ground from quite a height, creating a huge crater in the ground, right where they had been standing. Mimi whimpered. 

"You're not getting away!" shouted Spikemon, "Silver whip!" 

"Silver cannon!" shouted Spearmon. 

The two attacks hit Ikkakumon and Togemon, sending them flying into their human counterparts. 

"Ikkakumon, you should go on a diet," choked Joe, spitting out fur and trying to crawl out from underneath a huge, heavy walrus. 

"Owwwwwchie!" screeched Mimi as she was nearly impaled, cactus needles scratching across her skin. 

"You jerks, prepare for Needle Spray!" shouted Togemon, spinning around and shooting needles in the general direction of Spearmon and Spikemon. 

"Harpoon Torpedo!" shouted Ikkakumon, firing a volley of his attack at the enemies. 

Spearmon laughed as the needles bounced harmlessly off his metal-covered body. The harpoon torpedoes proved slightly more effective but did not even dent them. 

"You call that an attack?" taunted Spearmon, "try THIS for teamwork!" 

He and Spikemon moved close together, and both shouted "Twin Silver Volley!" 

Moving impossibly fast, the two Digimon shot through the air as one, separating at the last moment so that one of them collided with Ikkakumon and the other Togemon. They moved too fast to see which was which. Ikkakumon groaned and Togemon slumped to the ground, trying to push herself back up with her boxing gloves. 

"Ikkakumon!" called Joe, "digivolve again!" 

"You too, Togemon!" 

The two glanced down at their chests, and saw no tell-tale light. Ikkakumon shrugged apologetically. 

"I can't seem to do it, sorry Joe." 

"Why isn't your crest reacting, Mimi?" said Togemon. 

The kids didn't know, but they could see it wasn't going to be advantageous to stick around. Neither of them were Tais, and so they both started running. Ikkakumon dedigivolved and Joe scooped him up in his arms for the faster Togemon to catch them all up and run off with them. Spearmon and Spikemon were busy preparing for an elaborate attack and by the time they had executed it, missed, and realised their opponents were gone, it was a little too late. 

"Wow, talk about your mean Digimon," said Mimi. Togemon dedigivolved and sighed, exhausted. Mimi started massaging her back. 

"So is this our world or the digital world?" asked Gomamon. 

"I don't think it's either," said Joe, "maybe the key cards WERE wrong." He sighed, red in the face. "I'm really sorry, everyone. I'm just not as good as Izzy." 

"Now don't you say that, Joe," said Gomamon, "you don't need to compare yourself to anyone else!" 

"Besides," said Mimi reassuringly, "none of us knew what the keycards were either." 

"For all we know," added Palmon, "you DID put the cards down right but something just happened that wasn't supposed to." 

"Maybe," said Joe. 

"Do you think we should keep on walking?" said Mimi, "I mean, much as this dry air is bad for my skin, I really think it would be better to be, like, looking for something." 

"Fine with me," said Joe, and the two walked on, carrying their tired Digimon partners. 

After a while, the boring black ashphalt plains gave rise to a forest; dark, with decaying trees and grey smoke lingering in the air, but a forest nonetheless. 

"Well, this is cheery," said Joe, "this smoke is going to be killer on my allergies." 

"What a horrible forest!" gasped Palmon, "those poor trees! Those poor plants! Oh, I can hardly look!" 

"I think we should go in," said Gomamon, "we might find something." 

"If we can SEE anything in all that smoke," said Mimi uncertainly. 

"Who knows, maybe we'll even find some water!" said Gomamon hopefully. 

"I could use a drink," conceded Joe, "but if we did find any water, it would probably be full of black toxic sludge or something." 

"Oh, c'mon Joe, don't give up until you've at least tried!" said Gomamon, "in fact, don't give up even then!" 

"But am I the ONLY one who thinks that forest screams out "evil dwells within" or what?" 

"You're not the only one," said Mimi, and took a step forward, sniffing the air delicately. "It smells like dirty gym socks or something!" 

They might have debated longer but suddenly a scream sounded and three figures came running from the tree cover. The two kids and their Digimon quickly ran for cover themselves and peeked out behind the trees to watch. 

The first figure was running from the other two, and as she ran nearer them, they could see that it was a woman, a human woman. 

"Joe!" hissed Mimi, grabbing his arm very tightly, "Joe, that's a real person!" 

"I can see that!" whispered Joe, trying to pry her hand off before he lost circulation to his arm. 

The woman was being pursued by two Digimon, not very large but obviously stronger than she; two jackal-like monsters with, predictably, large teeth, and club-like tails. Reaching the open air had been a bad call, and the two Digimon caught her before she had been running even a minute. 

The kids had no opportunity to help, even if they had been bolder or more reckless. The Digimon leapt on her, clubbing her with her tails while she screamed, until she lay there, insensible, bleeding, and terribly still. 

"She wasn't reconfigured," muttered Joe, "does that mean this isn't a digital plain, or do no humans become reconfigured?" 

Gomamon just looked at him. He couldn't believe that cold reaction. 

As the small group watched, the Digimon tore into the woman's skin, ripping her apart in a gory and disgusting display in which most of the major organs were made fully visible to the spectators. The putrid smell of the forest was soon eclipsed by the smell of blood, red staining the black ground of whatever world they had come into. 

Joe blanched, clutched his stomach and threw up into the bushes. He grabbed his hair with one hand, agitated, and knelt there gagging, taking little gulps of air. Gomamon trembled. He had never seen death like that before. He absent-mindedly rubbed his partner's back, staring transfixed at the horrible scene. 

The two jackals strolled away, licking their chops and muttering to each other, but they were evidently satisfied with their meal and if they did smell Joe and Mimi, they made no effort to pursue them. 

Joe pulled himself together enough to look at Mimi. She was leaning against a tree, breathing heavily. Palmon sat beside her, eyes tightly shut. Joe was a little worried; if anything he had expected Mimi to be hysterical, not silent. He could see that she was shaking very badly. 

Sometimes I hate being the oldest, he thought, but tried to push aside his own fear to check on Mimi. It was easy to forget that they were only children. All of them had grown up so much since entering the digital world. 

But Mimi looked very young now, just the delicate child she was, and whispered, in a broken tone, "I want my parents." She shivered and hugged her knees to her chest. "Joe, where are my parents?" 

"They're back on Earth where it's safe, Mimi." 

"Joe, that was my mom." 

"Of course it wasn't! Your mother's in another world altogether and she's... she's perfectly safe." 

"That was my mom, Joe." 

"Mimi, listen to me! Maybe it looked like her or something but your real mother is safe and sound and waiting for you to come home just as soon as we've done our job!" 

"Our job..." she said, and suddenly she was crying, really crying. "Mom, Dad!" 

"I'm sorry, Mimi," said Joe, becoming scared himself, "I'm sorry, there's only me, and I'm not enough." 

But he tried to be what he could, moving awkwardly to her and pulling her to his chest. Mimi was sobbing, choking for air, and grabbed at Joe, holding him almost desperately. The two stood there for many minutes, just holding each other, trying to draw strength from each other. 

It was loneliness they were fighting, and fear, and horror, and their own guilt. The only person the other could trust, the only friendly face. Any rift that had been between them, any social differences or contrasts in character, dissolved completely and became irrelevent. They were not family but they held each other as substitutes, and it was enough. 

"This is even WORSE than Digiworld," said Mimi finally, and Joe smiled humourlessly. Having left the digital world to find their parents and avoid having to witness more death... it didn't seem a very good start. He hoped she wasn't going to give up altogether, because he didn't know if he was strong enough to support both of them for long. He tried to forget that he was only a kid himself. 

But she impressed him, jolted him out of his thoughts with a surprisingly strong voice, "there's something WRONG with this world. We have to do something." 

"But we weren't called to this world," said Joe, "do you really think it's a good idea to do anything? If all the worlds are interconnected, who knows what effect our actions could have?" 

"You idiot, Joe!" snapped Mimi, "do you think we should just stand by and see helpless people die like that?" 

"I'm not saying that at all," he said, in a tone that clearly indicated he was about to go on and say more in his usual infuriatingly reasonable voice. But he checked himself, and nodded to agree with her. He changed the subject, remembering something. 

"What do you suppose went wrong with our crests?" asked Joe, worried. He pulled it out from under his vest and looked at it, confused. "Hey, the symbol's changed. It's not the cross anymore." 

Mimi immediately fished out her own crest and traced her finger around the symbol there. "Mine's different too, no more teardrop." 

"Man," said Joe, "it takes so long to get a crest or digivice to react for the first time. So as soon as we finally got Reliability and Sincerity to react, we have to try something else?" 

Mimi shrugged. "I wonder what they mean." 

"Maybe we can find someone who knows," said Gomamon. 

"Great, another mission," said Joe, "find a way out of this world, try to avoid getting killed, try to achieve digivolution and find out what our crests mean. At this rate we'll be home after Christmas. Jingle bells, jingle bells..." 

"That's my Joe, always thinking on the positive side," said Gomamon. 

"What are jingle bells?" asked Palmon. 

"Please don't sing," said Mimi. She had a trace of her usual look about her now. 

"Hey, there's someone!" said Gomamon, "look! Let's go ask them about the crests!" 

Gomamon started running off out of the trees towards a figure in the distance and Joe grabbed his tail. 

"Gomamon! When are you going to learn to stop running into potential danger?" 

"When he's reconfigured, probably," said Palmon, snickering. 

"That's not funny," said Mimi. 

It turned out that they did not need to go after the figure as he was approaching them instead. It was a tall, solidly-built man with dark, half-closed eyes and an impassive face. Mimi and Joe gasped. 

"It's ANOTHER person!" whispered Mimi. 

"Do you think this world has Digimon and people living together?" whispered Joe. 

"Why are you whispering, you sillies?" whispered Palmon. 

The man was soon right in front of them, but he didn't stop, continuing to walk right past them. 

"Hey!" shouted Mimi, "hey! Don't be rude! Wait a minute!" 

The man stopped and turned, very slowly and deliberately. Mimi took a step back at the look on his face and grabbed Joe's arm. 

"What... do... you... want?" asked the man, grinding the words out between gritted teeth. 

"Um, I'm sorry to bother you sir," said Mimi, nervously, still clutching Joe's arm, "I was just wondering if you could possibly tell us where exactly we are!" 

"We are... where... we are." 

"Mimi," hissed Joe, "I kind of can't feel my arm..." 

"We are where we are? Yes, we know that!" said Mimi, "what we want to know is, where is where we are?" 

"We are... in this land... where there is nothing... that matters." 

"Huh? I don't get it!" 

The man, whose every movement and word was slow and deliberately, suddenly leapt forward and grabbed Mimi's collar, pulling her towards him. He looked very intently into her eyes and she squeaked. 

"Girl. You're unaffected," he said, speaking quickly now, snapping out his words, "your friend is further along. I don't know how you came here. I once came here myself. Most of those people or Digimon who live here were born here, but I came, and so did you two. I can tell. That's how I know, you should leave before this land touches you all." 

"Touches? Just what is THAT supposed to mean?!" 

"There are no humans that are not slaves to indifference. There are no Digimon who are not virus-types. And nobody is immune until the two with the crests come. Nobody else knows. The humans forgot, and the Digimon are constantly at war. I barely remember myself. It should be different." 

"Crests?" asked Joe, "do you mean these things?" 

He and Mimi both pulled out their crests and the man looked at them unblinkingly. 

"Could well be," he said, "I'm not familiar with them. If you can fix things here it might be good. I should go home but I can't be bothered." 

"Excuse me, but would you happen know what the symbols on the crests mean?" asked Gomamon. 

The man raised an eyebrows. "A polite Digimon. Now I've seen everything. How would I know. I'm a human. Only Digimon would know what crests mean. It's not my responsibility. Don't see that it matters, anyway." 

He turned as if to walk off, and began moving very slowly again. 

"Wait!" called Mimi, "do you know what we should do? How did you come here? Where are we supposed to find -" 

"Don't... bother asking questions," he said, without turning around, "don't bother finding answers. Hiding... is easier... than fighting." 

"Maybe," said Joe, "but it won't get you anywhere. If there's one thing I've learned, that would be it." 

"That's right!" shouted Gomamon - for the man was walking off now, in the same direction he had come from, taking purposeful steps to nowhere - "it's always worth fighting for what's important!" 

A few moments later, the man was gone, and none of them made any effort to follow him. 

"Well," said Joe, "what do we do now? Could it be possible that we were actually called to this world for a reason?" 

"Maybe everything happens for a reason!" said Gomamon, "looks like we're going to be the heroes of this world!" 

"Oh goodie," said Mimi. 

"But if all Digimon are virus, how can we beat every Digimon there is?" said Palmon. 

"Well, maybe if you made them NOT virus any more, they could help us! Remember when you were Lillymon and you made that ring to counter the virus controlling Tyrannomon?" 

"But I can't fully digivolve without a crest! We've only been in this world for about two hours and already we've seen four Digimon. I bet there must be thousands!" 

"Maybe there's some source of ultimate evil and corruption that we have to destroy, and that will save everything!" said Gomamon. 

"You sound too cheerful for the words coming out your mouth," muttered Joe. 

"Nothing wrong with that! Now let's go into forest! We don't mind a little smoke!"

"Speak for yourself, Gomamon. I happen to be an asthmatic."

"You also happen to be a hypochondriac!"

  
***

  
Since I had to split this fic into two pieces for the sake of file size, I might as well ask something... I'm not sure whether I should make this little story fit into the Digimon continuum (like, have them return to the digital world afterwards, meet Ogremon/MetalEtemon, etc, with all changes reversed) or have it as a sort of alternate scenario for the show. The latter has the advantage that I can basically do what I like and not have it affect the story's place in the series. If you'd prefer one or the other please tell me. ^_^.

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	2. Default Chapter Title

Power of Two (second part) Joe's crest was originally to be Optimism but I thought it didn't sound cool or powerful enough. ^_^; But his reaction is more or less the same, so... just in case it seemed odd. Mreh. I probably should have fleshed this out more, made it more of an involved adventure but I'm too unimaginative and too lazy. If I was to force myself to write more of the (to me) boring parts, I'd never finish it. ^_^;

Unfortunately, this part STILl became longer than I wanted it to, so there will be yet ANOTHER part after this one, and then an epilogue-thing. -_-; I've spent altogether too much time writing this wretched thing. Yet I actually like the way it has come out, even if nobody else does. ^_^.

**Power of Two** (second part)  
by [Leto][1]

They had barely taken two steps into the terrible forest when the smoke cleared and the stench of rotting plants abated. It happened quite suddenly. There was still a dark, eerie atmosphere, but the plants seemed almost alive now, and a light, clinging mist hung in the air. 

"What happened?" said Mimi, "I can see light through the trees now!" 

"The soil feels cleaner!" said Palmon happily and dug her roots into it. 

"I bet the others beat Puppetmon!" said Gomamon. 

"Maybe," said Joe, "I guess the worlds really are connected, if so." 

They walked for a few minutes more until they encountered a Digimon. Well, perhaps that is not entirely accurate - they did see two DarkMonochromon engaged in mortal combat, but decided it might be prudent not to interrupt. This Digimon was smaller, had no armour, spikes or claws, and was peacefully asleep. 

They stared at the Digimon for a moment. It was no larger than they were, and covered with thick, soft fur. Its head rested on ungainly paws, eyes tightly shut. 

"Well, he looks nice enough," said Mimi finally, and carefully put a hand on the creature's shoulder, shaking it. It opened one eye very slowly, fixing it on her. It did not look nice enough. 

"Why did you wake me up?" it asked slowly. 

"We're sorry to bother you, sir," said Joe, using the slightly smarmy tone he had developed for dealing with adults, "but you know, a lot of the Digimon in this world seem unusually stupid and as soon as I saw you I recognised a whole atmosphere of intelligence about you, and I knew you would be able to answer a couple of simple questions we happen to have." 

Gomamon grinned to himself, thinking that maybe Joe had more in common with him than he'd admit. 

The creature yawned, stretched, and drew itself slowly onto its haunches. It turned its head, still very slowly and deliberately, and looked at Joe closely. 

"Is that so?" it said, "make it QUICK. I do NOT like being disturbed. If you weren't such a good judge of superior smarts, I would have sent you off by now." 

The Digimon suddenly simultaneously extended all its claws at once and yawned again, showing rows of long teeth. 

Mimi said nervously, "we were hoping you could tell us what the symbols on these crests mean?" 

"Crests?" repeated the Digimon, "crests are items of legend, aren't they? Well, let's see whatever you fancy you have, then." 

Joe held his tag out in front of the Digimon, making sure to keep a tight grip on it. 

"Oh. I know that symbol! Isn't that supposed to mean Life or something?" 

Gomamon started laughing very hard, and Joe stared in disbelief. 

"Life?! What sort of crazy world IS this? I get the crest of LIFE? That's so obscure, I'll NEVER get it to react! We're all going to die!" 

"Maybe your crest is for ME!" said Gomamon, "maybe if I'M lively I can digivolve! Or YOU can digivolve! Who knows how different things are here? Maybe humans can change! Hahahaha! I wonder what Joe would turn into! I bet it would be something ugly! Hahahaaaaa-ck!" 

Joe grabbed Gomamon by the fur on his neck and started shaking him. 

"I could not digivolve into something any uglier than Zudomon, and anyway I don't think this is the time for jokes!" 

"This is the perfect time for jokes!" said Gomamon. 

"What about my crest?" asked Mimi, ignoring the by-play. 

"Yeh, that symbol... I think it's Passion, yeah, that's right. Passion... huh, the only thing that could save the humans of this world, I bet. None of them care about anything." 

"Does that mean 'life' is supposed to save the Digimon of this world?" asked Joe. 

The Digimon shrugged. "Like I know! As far as I'm concerned, we don't NEED saving! There's nothing wrong with viruses!" 

"Nasalmon," muttered Gomamon, "Whinemon." 

"What are you muttering about?" snapped Joe. 

"Just wondering what you'd digivolve into." 

"Well cut it out!" 

"Do our crests work like normal crests?" said Mimi, "and are there supposed to be more than two?" 

"Girl, does it matter? Don't you realise? Your crests are designed so that they will never react!" 

"What do you mean? I'm passionate about lots of things!" 

"Hayfevermon. Hammermon. Dorkmon." 

"Gomamon!" 

"Girl, stop bothering me with stupid questions. I want to go back to sleep." 

"But if you could just -" 

"If I don't get my 22 hours a day beauty sleep, I might become VIOLENT." 

Mimi took a step back and nodded. "Well, sorry to have bothered you, sweet dreams!" 

"Foureyesmon. Funnymon. Klutzmon." 

"GOMAMON!" 

"Numemon!" 

Gomamon was rolling around on the ground, squeaking with laughter. Joe looked decidedly unimpressed and picked him up by the tail. 

"Come on, GARBAGEMON," he said. Gomamon stuck out his tongue. 

"Come on where?" 

"I... have no idea. But walking's better than doing nothing. Unless we run into violent Digimon." 

There was a sudden, terrible screech that reverberated through the forest, making the trees shake. An enormous shape suddenly descended, crashing through the foliage and landing in front of them. It was a Digimon that looked like a giant, pink, metal pterodactyl. 

"Ooh, I love your colour!" said Mimi approvingly. 

"What was that you were saying about violent Digimon, Joe?" asked Palmon nervously. 

The pterodacyl glared, and lifted one enormous foot to show its talons, which it flicked. Then it squinted at Mimi and Joe's chests and moved back slightly.

"Digimon won't attack you while you're wearing the crests," it said quietly. 

The kids looked at each other, surprised. 

"Spearmon and Spikemon did." 

"Those clowns attack anyone who touches their highway. Perhaps they did not see your crests. Did any of you step on a silver road?" 

"Oh." 

The pterodactyl flapped its wings once. Gomamon was blown into Mimi's arms. 

"Wait!" called Mimi, "can you tell us if there's something in particular that's making this world so icky?" 

"There's a virus all around. Sometimes it takes the form of Virusmon. But usually it's just in the air. I don't think you can beat him at all. Anyway, the worlds are connected. I'm sure there's more to it than one source." 

"What stage is Virusmon?" asked Mimi, "is he, like, a Mega?" 

"'Stage'?" repeated the pterodactyl, "I don't know what you mean by that. There are only Digimon here." 

"Where can we find this Virusmon?" 

"You're mad. Humans will be killed by him. And I see your Digimon are not virus-type. So you stand nothing good by encountering him. He is everywhere, anyway. But..." 

"But?" 

"But every digital plane thrives on legends. There are some about crests, and one is that Virusmon will meet another world soon after the crests appear, at Perillin. The forest of the dark." 

"Great," said Joe, "more darkness, just what we need." 

"Another world?" said Mimi, "oh you guys, you don't think he means OUR world, do you?" 

"Where's Perillin?" asked Gomamon. 

The pterodactyl nodded its cruel beak in a particular direction and nodded sharply. 

"I'm sure those crests will offer little immunity against Virusmon." 

It flapped its wings and took off, sending dust flying and trees shaking. A moment later it was soaring, a black shape against a greying sky. 

And with nothing else to do, the group set off in the direction he had gestured. The forest ended after a time, leading to a seemingly endless expanse of black, tarred ground and a hot summer sun. 

"We have to cross that?!" said Joe. 

"We have to try," said Gomamon. 

"That's right," said Mimi, "how bad could it be?" 

They walked. 

And walked. 

And walked. 

Mimi soon realised perfectly well how bad it could be. At first she was busy wondering why her crest supposedly couldn't react, and after a while she gave up on something that took so much mental effort, and just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. 

It was hot. 

And still they walked. 

"Joe," said Gomamon, after a long time of silent walking, "why are we still walking? This whole thing is useless anyway." 

Everyone looked at him in amazement. Although the smallest of them, he had been like a leader for most of this adventure, and that was a very un-Gomamon-like sentiment. 

"Gomamon, you okay?" said Joe, "do you want me to carry you?" He was tired himself but there was no place to rest on the hot ground with the sun beating down. 

"No, I don't want you to carry me," said Gomamon sarcastically, "I happen to like scraping myself along the hot ashphalt." 

Joe wordlessly picked him up and they continued walking, or trudging would be a better word, with heads down, not bothering to speak as it would waste energy. Mimi, being smaller than Joe, was not strong enough to carry Palmon, who was bigger than Gomamon. The plant stumbled along, her flower seeming to wilt more with every step. 

"Mimi, this is horrible," she said. Mimi just nodded, with tears in her eyes. There was still nothing but black in every direction, nothing to suggest any immediate reprieve. Her legs were tired, her feet hot, her back ached and there was sweat pouring down her face. Beside her, Joe was also plodding along grimly, both of them walking without the strength to walk. 

Joe suddenly stopped walking, set Gomamon down, yanked off his vest and unbuttoned his shirt, which was now wet with sweat. Mimi looked at him blankly as he stuffed the clothes into his bag, picked up Gomamon again and kept walking. Still neither of them spoke. Usually he would have been too self-conscious to walk around bare-chested, especially with Mimi there, but both of them were beyond caring. Indeed, Mimi barely registered. 

They did end up having a quick, not-very-refreshing rest, when Palmon finally stumbled and fell, unable to walk any more. Palmon rested her feet by sitting on Joe's bag, while the humans crouched uncomfortably, trying not to touch the ground. 

"Joe, I can't stand being away from water so long," said Gomamon tiredly, "we're all going to die in this stupid hot ashphalt desert." 

Joe sighed. He wanted water too, they all did. Palmon, with some cactus in her, was not as bad off as the others, but even she was beginning to wilt. His tongue felt dry and rough as he replied "even if we can't find water or a place to rest, night should be falling in a couple hours, it'll be much more tolerable then." 

Mimi thought of a few things to say; complaints, wondering aloud about their friends, asking questions. But she discarded all of them, figuring it was easier to be selfish and stay quiet. Too much of an effort to speak, especially as it might lead to conversation, which she couldn't be bothered with. 

"We should keep going," said Joe finally, hating to say it but feeling some responsibility for their little group. 

Mimi nodded weakly and they each struggled to their feet. After a pause, Palmon sighed and got up too. 

It was a full hour of solid walking before anything changed. Simply something on the horizon besides more flat blackness. And it seemed so far away. But the children and their friends kept walking. What else was there to do? One hour, two hours later, they finally reached it. 

It turned out that what they saw on the horizon was the end of the ashphalt area altogether. It was, in fact, the beginnings of a mountain range with a 'fence' of fire hydrants around the border. 

Joe thought that it seemed this world was just as weird as the digital world. His mouth was too dry to warrant saying this, though. He sank to his knees in the light sand that marked the end of their walk, and gestured simply to the hydrants. 

Palmon was completely spent, but gritted her teeth and forced herself to extend a vine and attack the hydrant. Water came squirting out at high pressure, drenching them all. Not one of the four complained. 

The kids sat there in the dusk in between a mountain range and an endless expanse of ashphalt, next to their best friends, a seal and a plant, with one of about a thousand fire hydrants spraying water all over them, into their mouths, down their clothes, into their hair and shoes and dripping to the ground. 

"Turned out to be a pretty strange summer vacation, didn't it," said Mimi finally. Joe laughed a lot at this, almost hysterically, and Mimi soon joined in. The absolute ludicrousness of their situation hit them both, and although there was really nothing funny about it, both were relieved to be alive and cold and wet. 

They decided to sleep there by the hydrants, as it felt safer than being nearer the mountains; dark, ominous craggy peaks, not much more inviting than the forest they had been in. 

They sat and ate, and regained the energy to talk, although the Digimon, particularly Gomamon, were morose and not very vocal - unusual for them! 

"Gomamon, are you okay?" Joe gently touched the side of Gomamon's face, and his Digimon whirled and bit him. Joe shouted out in shock, grabbing his hand and staring at Gomamon in disbelief. 

"Joe!" said Gomamon, sounding scared and apologetic, "I'm sorry! I don't know why I did that!" 

"Don't worry about it," said Joe, sounding pretty worried himself. He forced himself to pat Gomamon on the cheek. "I trust you." 

"You shouldn't trust anyone," said Palmon. 

"Well, aren't you two cheerful today," said Joe. 

"We've always been like this, Joe, you just haven't noticed it before." 

Both Digimon looked quite depressed, both had lost the usual friendly sparkle in their eyes. Joe was suddenly annoyed. 

"Hey, I know everything's not perfect but we've gone through worse - well, maybe - and you shouldn't be giving up so easily! Is all your optimism only worth something when the going is good?" 

"We should've given up long ago." 

Joe stared. Gomamon was _glaring_ at him! Gomamon did NOT glare unless it was in defiance and on his partner's behalf. 

"Don't ever say that!" shouted Joe. 

"I'll say whatever I want! All this time I've been following you around! And YOU call the shots, but you're the worst decision-maker I've ever met! You never wanna do anything brave!" 

"Gomamon." 

"You're just a big coward, Joe! No wonder the group didn't mind getting rid of you!" 

Joe stared at his Digimon who stared steadily back, with cold eyes. He was saying all the things he was secretly feeling... 

"Joe, it's not true!" said Mimi. 

He looked at Gomamon again, thoughtfully, and then pulled his crest from around his neck and looped it around Gomamon's. Gomamon shook his head a few times, as if to clear it, and then stared at Joe looking slightly bewildered. 

"Joe!" said Gomamon, "I feel better! Why was I saying those things? I didn't meeeean them!" 

"I know," said Joe calmly, "I trust you, remember?" 

Gomamon grinned and then looked serious. "Are you sure you want me to wear this? You're only protected against bad Digimon if you're wearing it yourself." 

"Yeah, but we can't have you turning virus on us! The vaccine version of Gomamon is bad enough!" 

"Very funny." 

Mimi looped her own crest around Palmon's neck. 

It wasn't very late, but the summer sun had nearly completely set, and it was never very pleasant to wander around dangerous unknown territory in the dark. There was no moon. And so they went to sleep, knowing they should have someone on guard, but even reliable Joe couldn't be bothered. 

Since getting up that morning, they had both waited around, trapped in their own ways; Joe trying to get into town, and Mimi imprisoned by the Bakemon. They had finally gotten both of their crests to work, fought Myotismon, checked up on their families, fought VenomMyotismon, returned to the digital world, met the Dark Masters, escaped from, fought and beaten MetalSeadramon, been manipulated by Puppetmon, challenged by Matt, gone off on their own, tried to escape to their own world and ended up in a new one with new crests, walked for hours, and had about a dozen near-death experiences throughout the day. 

It had been, to say the least, a very long day. 

And so they slept, and they did not wake up again until mid-morning. 

"GOOD MORNING!" 

Gomamon's scream got through to the others, who all groaned like dying frogs and kind of stared blearily at him. Gomamon had a big, cheerful smile on his face and ran a few laps around the others, slapping the ground with his flippers. 

"Rise and shine, everyone!" 

Joe still just stared at him blankly. After about twenty seconds, he belatedly realised it might be easier to see with his glasses on. He put his glasses on and stared at Gomamon blankly some more. 

"Well? Don't just lie there, lazy bones!" 

"Grrmph," said Joe intelligently and started picking sleep out of his eyes. 

Mimi was still lying facedown in the dirt - how times had changed since she had entered the digital world! - and after realising that Gomamon was not waking them for any real reason, lay her head back down again and didn't stir. A loud groan came from her general direction. 

Palmon closed her eyes peacefully and said nothing. She was enjoying the sunlight in her leaves, and although the soil was not as good as she would have liked, she'd had quite a decent night's sleep. 

"Boy, you humans sure are lethargic in the mornings!" said Gomamon. 

"Grmn," mumbled Joe - croaked, really - "shrmmm orr I krryu." 

"Shut up or you'll kill me? But Joe, I'm your best buddy! You don't really mean that! Come on, it's a bright new day!" 

Joe just kept looking at him blankly, incapable of much coherent thought in the mornings. 

"And Mimi! You've had many hours of beauty sleep! Shouldn't you be - woargh!" 

Mimi looked up at him, her face covered with dirt, her hair mussed, and some dried drool at the corner of her mouth. 

"Mreh?" she said. 

"Forget what I said about beauty sleep! You should take a shower!" 

Mimi hit out at him but he easily dodged and laughed, running around the two semi-conscious humans. Finally he thought of a nice idea, called "Marching Fishes!" and had them come out of one of the hydrants. The hydrant's lid was forced off and water sprayed everywhere, completely drenching the two children, and Palmon, who didn't mind as she needed watering anyway. 

The dirt Mimi was lying in suddenly turned to mud, and that was something not so easily brushed off. She yelped and jumped up and lunged at Gomamon before falling down. 

"Gomamon, I'm going to kill you!" shouted Mimi. 

"I'm going to help!" shouted Joe. 

Gomamon found this very funny. "You have to admit, it got you up!" 

"Can we eat the fish?" said Joe. 

"No way! Those guys are my friends!" 

Joe sweatdropped. The fish were flopping on the ground, unable to breathe, and in a couple more seconds they were dead anyway. 

"Breakfast's on," said Joe. 

"Barbarian!" said Gomamon. 

"Uggh," said Mimi, "my arms and legs are all stiff!" 

"My back hurts," agreed Joe, "must have been all that walking yesterday. You know it's just going to get worse." 

"Joe," complained Gomamon, "every time you go all pessimistic this crest hurts me." 

"Maybe we have to be positive in this world," said Mimi. 

"When we were all depressed I felt like I was turning into a virus Digimon," said Palmon. 

"Think happy thoughts," said Gomamon. 

"What is this, Peter Pan?" said Joe. 

Mimi found that funny. "Joe Pan, the boy who never grew up! He lived among fairies and pirates and wild animals!" 

"I'm the fairy, right Mimi?" said Palmon. 

"An' I'm the wild animal!" said Gomamon, baring his little fangs. 

"I guess that means Mimi is the pirate?" said Palmon. 

"What's a pirate?" said Gomamon. 

"I AM NOT A PIRATE!" shouted Mimi. 

"Mimi Hook," Joe couldn't resist teasing, "the mean pirate captainess of good form!" 

"Is captainess a word?" 

"'Good form'?" 

"Joe, what're you talking about?" 

"Never mind," he sighed. He got up, rubbing his back, and started poking around in the scrub, pulling out twigs. 

"Oh, firewood?" said Mimi, "here, I'll help." She stood up awkwardly and pulled branches off of bushes. 

"Mimi, you shouldn't do that," said Palmon, "it hurts the plants." 

"These trees are icky anyway," said Mimi, "don't you think they're practically dead? I'm doing them a favour. Anyway, it's too much of a bother to bend down to pick up sticks." 

"It's not good for my back, I'll give you that," said Joe, but Mimi had got about five times as many sticks as him and she dumped them - away from the miniature flood created by Gomamon - and Joe sat down next to them. 

"How are we going to light a fire? Agumon and Gabumon aren't here." 

Joe took off his glasses. "Like this!" he said proudly, "have you ever read 'Lord of the Flies'?" 

"No, but I've seen the movie, all I remember was a fat kid getting hit with a rock, so violent!" 

"Well, I hope I don't get hit by a rock, but you never know in this world." 

Joe held his glasses over the fire at different angles, grimacing in discomfort. 

"Your back really hurts?" said Mimi, "here, let me give you a back massage! I'm good at these! You just hold your glasses there and relax!" 

"Relax? Joe doesn't know how to relax! He's too busy coming down with something!" said Gomamon. 

"Gomamon, I know it's really difficult for you to keep your mouth shut but for once could you - waaaugh!" 

Mimi knelt behind Joe, wincing as her stiff knees cracked. She pulled off her muddy gloves and started digging her fingers into Joe's back. Hard. 

"MIMI, YOU NEED TO GET YOUR FINGERNAILS TRIMMED BADLY!" shrieked Joe as he was clawed. 

Mimi sweatdropped and moved the angle of her hands. "Well, I was wearing gloves so I wouldn't bite my fingernails so that they'd grow long enough to French manicure them!" 

"Well, it worked, they're long enough to use a chainsaw on!" 

"Okay okay. Is that better?" 

She pounded his back, crunching her fingers into it and grinding them into the skin. 

"FINE EXCEPT I THINK MY RIBCAGE IS GOING TO CAVE IN!" 

"You don't have to yell!" 

She moved to massaging his thin shoulders, but it was not very relaxing for Joe. 

"Your back and shoulders are all red," said Mimi. 

"I get sunburnt easily," he said, gritting his teeth. 

"Best cure for sunburn is cold water!" said Gomamon cheerfully. 

"Don't you DARE, Gomamon! I am trying to make a fire here!" 

"It doesn't seem to be working." 

"What's meant to happen?" 

"I guess the light is refracted through the lens of the glasses and concentrated onto the wood until it becomes hot enough to ignite?" 

Gomamon, Palmon and Mimi had confused looks on their faces. Joe shrugged. "I made that up. But you have to admit, it sounded feasible. Hey, if Izzy said it you'd all be nodding!" 

"I don't think you can make fire out of glass," said Palmon. 

Mimi kept kneading Joe's back and he kept giving little yelps of pain and trying to find the right angle for the glasses. They sat there for about ten minutes. 

"Well, it's obvious this doesn't work," Joe said finally, "it must have been an old wive's tale or something." 

"Or maybe you just did it completely wrong, Joe," said Gomamon cheerfully. 

"Gee, Gomamon, where would I be without your encouragement." 

"Um, Joe, I hate to bring this up but I was just wondering why you don't just use the matches you put in your bag?" 

Joe turned and stared at Mimi, who shrugged. "Just a suggestion!" 

He sighed, and muttered something unintelligible under his breath, before finding the matches and starting a fire. They cooked the fish, and ate (Gomamon complained a lot, mumbling about cannibalism, yet they all noticed he ate his full share, and a few bites of Joe's when he thought the boy wasn't looking). 

After a little while of lazing around, Mimi looked away from the group up to the mountains. 

"They just seem so BIG," she said, "do we have to climb them or something?" 

"If we find the biggest mountain, maybe we can see Perillin from there!" said Gomamon happily, "remember when we climbed Infinity Mountain, Joe? We're a great team! This is gonna be fun!" 

"Gomamon, I think the virus in the air is really getting to you!" 

"I wonder if there are any people or Digimon around here," said Mimi, "it seems deserted so far." 

"Well, whenever someone says that it usually means we're about to be placed in life-threatening peril, so don't worry Mimi, I'm sure we'll encounter someone," said Joe. 

"Can't wait," said Mimi spiritlessly. 

She stared out over the mountain range. So far to go, so much to do. All she had wanted to do was go home. She felt so small, and helpless without her friends and family. They were both kids. Back home, they wouldn't be trusted to catch a train by themselves, or to register for an e-mail account without adult permission, or go rollerskating without a helmet. Now they were trying to save a world by themselves, and in doing so save all the worlds. 

If she were back home, the only time she would have woken up with stiff muscles would have been after going to the mall for too long, and then she could spend the whole morning sleeping in and lounging around and not doing anything too energetic for a day or two. Her parents would just take care of her, give her meals and make sure she didn't have to deal with anything herself. 

That would have been a good thing... right?

Sometimes she wished there were adults around. Adults always seemed to feel in charge, and know the best thing to do. There was security. The bearer of Reliability's crest was pretty good on inspiring security, but it wasn't the same, because when it came down to it, he didn't really know what they were doing either. 

She thought how serious Joe seemed, even when he was joking around. He didn't smile very much. She could tell he was constantly worrying, but trying to keep it to himself, and trying to be like the responsible adult, which he could be without Tai or Matt around. She felt like she understood him better, and that he understood her better. 

"I wanna be with my family SO much," said Mimi suddenly. 

Joe just looked at her. He liked it how she said that so sincerely; he felt that any one of the other kids would have said nothing, or made up an excuse, or at least hidden the emotion behind the statement. He couldn't imagine feeling the same way; sure, he missed Jim, but he didn't feel like he would get any protection or warmth from being with him, and as for his parents... 

But it also made him feel inadequate. 

"I'll be your family," he said impulsively, wishing he could offer more. 

"You mean like a big brother?" 

"If... if you like. Or..." He picked a small daisy and threaded its stem through its head, making a small hoop. He held it up, a little nervous. "You ever heard of 'eternity rings'?" 

"Joe..." she said quietly. She was happy that someone like him could offer her something like that. They were so different. 

"Don't you feel like we've been made partners here together?" 

"For life." 

"Or eternity." 

She took the daisy chain and put it on her finger. 

"Sorry it's not a real one," he said. 

"It's real enough," she said, and threaded him a daisy too, "and this way I can make you one too." 

Joe grinned. She was glad when he held up his hand to accept the flower. She thought it was cute. She suddenly realised how much he had been doing in this adventure - the one she had made him come on. And by contrast, how little she had been doing. 

'You're different,' she could remember Palmon saying, 'you like to take things easy'. And she remembered her mother telling her that different people were capable of different things, and it was nothing to be ashamed of if it seemed like you weren't helping when other people were better at something. 

She didn't agree. When there were only two of you, both of you had to try your hardest even if you weren't so good at something. She was glad it was Joe with her instead of Sora or Tai or someone who would make her feel weak because she wasn't as strong as most of them. 

Even if she had felt so pretty and popular and polished in her world, she'd suddenly realised that those things didn't help much in the digital world. Sure, maybe she could sucker a Numemon into helping her, but generally she'd found her talents, and herself, suddenly useless, a liability even - someone the other kids scorned instead of how it had been in real life, with her on top of the world. 

She suddenly felt it might have been better to be good at sports or know how to cook or be a computer genius, than to go shopping and gossip with friends, than to be good at finding a good sale and matching colours. She couldn't even scrub floors properly. Izzy had always been laughing at her... 

But throughout their journey, Joe had always been worse at practical things than even her. Mimi was sheltered and unused to these things, but Joe was just clumsy, and she laughed at him with everyone else, relieved that she wasn't the biggest failure. His clumsiness made her feel more comfortable. But she wouldn't dream of laughing now. 

Even if the two of them didn't have the useful skills the others might have had, or the raw power, they were _both needed_ and both part of the team. They had been chosen somehow. 

And now, she realised that both of them had to do everything they could, even if they weren't good at it. 

She looked at the ring on her finger and smiled. These days would be hard, but days always end. The sun always sets, and then rises again, even in a greying, decaying land far from home, where the only familiar face was someone she didn't even _like_ before the adventures, let alone trusted completely. And someone who was too insecure to dare to trust anyone, let alone someone seemingly so out of his league as her. 

But social circles meant nothing. When you see someone first thing in the morning, when they stand by you when you're afraid, when they volunteer to support you when nobody else would, when they pull you out of danger's way, when they hold you to stave off the forces of fear and death, when they give you the ability to stand up again... then the masks that you once wore break, and even if you put them back on for the rest of the world, that other person will always remember what you really looked like. 

Mimi watched Joe as he pulled his shirt back over his head, and his vest, carefully doing up all the buttons and tucking the shirt in. Even in the middle of nowhere, he was still habitually doing things the correct way, carefully straightening his unfashionable clothes even in the middle of the wilderness. 

She smiled. 

And she felt that the exchanging of eternity rings had given them both the strength they would need. 

~*~

  
If you didn't know, an eternity ring, or a promise ring, is indicative of commitment. It's usually considered to represent "engaged to be engaged" (to be married). Love for life.

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	3. Default Chapter Title

Power of Two, part 3 I have written an epilogue to this. Well, epilogue is probably not the best word. At any rate, the 'epilogue' is totally unnecessary. It just continues the story from where it actually ends. This page contains the real ending. This is the ending I want for it, so after now it's complete in itself. But I had momentum and kept writing so you can see what happens afterwards.

This isn't very well written though. It should be so much more padded out, with more plot twists etc. Sorry about that. I'm trying to get stories finished and out of the way.

I decided I didn't have the energy to finish this fic, but I've already written most of it so here it is. I sort of write it in parts, writing particular scenes... so the parts that I DIDN'T write I've just included a sentence or two in bold italics summing up what happened there, so that you can all follow it! ^_^;

**Power of Two**  
by [Leto][1]  
Part 3

The kids left the border and ventured into the mountain range. The ground before the first mountains began was white sand with some scrub. There were long rows of mountains, almost symmetrical, and although the peaks nearest them were not very high, they could see that in the distance there were other peaks which were taller. 

There seemed no alternative but to start climbing the mountains, and they set to it, walking up the incline that seemed to become increasingly steeper. The kind of walking that saps your strength most quickly. 

As this first mountain was little more than a large hill, it did not take very long - perhaps an hour - to reach the top. Nonetheless, the children and Digimon were well ready for a rest when they reached the plateau. 

They all fell down, breathing heavily, and it was a minute or two until they bothered to look at their surroundings. Mimi gasped and pointed. 

"Look down there, Joe! There are people moving!" 

Joe pulled binoculars out of his bag (hey, he comes prepared) and looked down, squinting. Sure enough, there were people - quite a lot of them - standing around. Some wandered around. Most of them looked pretty mindless. They stood within the boundaries of a large, fenced area. 

"There's a fence around them,' he said. 

"We should go down there right away!" she said, jumping up. 

"Give me a minute," he said, sweatdropping, "we only just sat down." 

She waited impatiently, and he got up much sooner than he had intended as her standing there tapping her foot and sighing was something of a motivator. 

The two almost ran down the hill, gravity helping them. Their Digimon ran behind, Gomamon stumbling and tripping, his limbs badly suited to this sort of activity. Finally he gave up, threw himself at the ground and slid down the hill at top speed, beating them all to the bottom. 

They found themselves surrounded by people. The fences were not very high - not even as tall as they were. All of the people looked rather disinterested and spiritless. The two kids and their Digimon went around, trying to talk to various people. 

"Excuse me, excuse me," said Mimi, to a girl her own age, "what are all of you doing here?" 

"We are... here," she replied blankly. 

"Yes, I can see that," said Mimi patiently, "but why? What are you doing?" 

"We're... standing... we're... here." 

"Hey," said Joe, to a boy a little older than himself, "could you please tell me where we are? Do you know where Perillin is?" 

"Who cares?" countered the boy, in a slow, drawling voice. 

"Hey, human!" shouted Gomamon, "what are these fences here for?" 

The woman he asked looked at him, shrugged, and turned away, disinterested in the conversation. 

"Don't ignore me!" Palmon was yelling, "hey! Can't you give me an answer?!" 

The four of them regrouped and all sighed. 

"No luck," sighed Gomamon, "everyone here's flipped." 

"But I wonder what they're doing here," said Mimi, "it's like they're just animals in a paddock or something." 

"PRECISELY!" 

The four of them looked up, startled. None of them had noticed, but a six-armed, falcon-like Digimon wearing overalls had been hovering over them. 

The Digimon glared at them. "I saw you, trying to disturb my livestock!" 

"Livestock?" repeated Joe, in disbelief. 

"AND JUST WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" shouted Mimi. 

"I raise humans, they make a tasty profit. I must say, you two are most unusual." 

"You're one to talk," snapped Mimi. 

"Did you come to make a purchase?" 

"What, are you kidding us?!" snapped Joe, "we're not cannibals!" 

"Pity," said the falcon, "well, you must be newcomers to this world. I wonder what other-worlders taste like?" 

He flew into the air, flapped his wings and screeched, "Ranch Barbeque!" Fire rained down on them, and Joe and Mimi squeaked and covered their heads. 

"Gomamon digivolve to... Ikkakumon!" 

"Palmon, digivolve to... Togemon!" 

"Have a taste of my Needle Spray!" 

Togemon sent out hundreds of needles, which all ignited in the air, creating a shower of horrible sparks that were difficult to avoid. The four of them jumped around, screeching when hit. Finally, the shower stopped and Ikkakumon, Joe and Mimi all glared at Togemon. 

"Hehehhh... sorry," she said, sheepishly. 

The falcon swooped them, knocking Ikkakumon into Togemon. Ikkakumon shouted as he was impaled by dozens of needles. The enemy then sent another torrent of flames at the two. 

Joe picked up his crest - it had fallen from Gomamon's neck when the Digimon had digivolved - and looked at it furiously. 

"React, why won't you?! Come on! Ikkakumon, digivolve again!" 

Mimi took up her own crest, and touched it to her heart. 

"Togemon, you can do it!" 

"Sorry, Joe," sighed Ikkakumon, dedigivolving to Gomamon. 

"We just can't seem to do it," sighed Togemon, dedigivolving to Palmon. 

Their attacker looked at them in surprise. "You have the crests? Sorry, I didn't realise that. Get out of here." 

"Thanks for your hospitality!" said Gomamon. The falcon glared at him. 

"YOU don't have a crest," he said, "don't tempt me!" 

Joe picked Gomamon up and covered his mouth. "We'll be going now..." 

"But what about all these poor people?" protested Mimi, "we can't just leave them here to get EATEN!" 

"They won't CARE if they get eaten until we defeat Virusmon, so we really have to keep going!" 

The falcon Digimon laughed, pinwheeling around the sky, holding his sides with all six arms. "Defeat Virusmon? That's great! You can't even defeat me! Your crests won't react, so you'll never win!" 

"Everyone keeps saying our crests will never react," said Mimi, "but they will, you'll see! Hmpf!" 

She turned, in a huff, and started stomping up the next mountain. The others followed her, and soon they were continuing their journey, both wearing their crests again. The positive effects of the crests seemed to stay with the Digimon for a while, and they were, if not in high spirits, at least fairly in character. 

This mountain was taller, and steeper, but it hadn't looked so very high from the ground. They walked for a couple of hours. 

"Did this mountain go into the clouds?" 

"It didn't look like it did when we were on the ground..." 

"It's getting misty. That means we're in the clouds." 

"Look up ahead! It's almost completely white!" 

"What kind of totally whacked-out mountain IS this?" 

"Hey, I got an idea!" said Gomamon, "I'll digivolve into Ikkakumon. Then, you can hold onto my horn, Joe, and I'll fire a harpoon torpedo! You'll be sent right to the top of the mountain in a jiffy! Just hope that you don't explode upon impact!" 

"I certainly HOPE you're kidding." 

"Maybe I could digivolve into Togemon and give Gomamon a really good uppercut to send HIM flying to the top of the mountain!" 

"Hey Palmon, that sounds like a super good idea!" 

"Just try it and you'll soon discover the vengeance exacted by thousands of angry fish!" 

"Oh no, not fish! Save me! Hahaha!" 

"'Vengeance exacted'? Hey Gomamon, that's a pretty big phrase for you." 

"What can I say, I'm a naturally smart guy!" 

**_The kids and their Digimon keep walking, talking, etc. They reach the top of the second mountain and see the top of the third from there. It is becoming darker. They make it to the bottom of the second mountain with little drama. Everything is rather eerily still and quiet. The atmosphere almost seems to be becoming darker. Now they are in the valley between the second and third mountains..._**

They decided to take a lunch break then, bringing out cold cooked fish and cold water. Palmon declined the fish and settled her roots into the ground. She frowned slightly. 

"I think we might be getting closer to this bad place, because the soil's getting worse!" 

Joe scooped up a little sand in his hand and looked at it. There were dark specks mixed with the white ones. He let the sand run out between his fingers and sighed a little. 

"Is something wrong, Joe?" asked Mimi, who had been watching him. 

"Nothing more than usual," he said. Which, coming from him, probably meant that about a million things were wrong. 

"Aw, c'mon Joe, you don't mean that!" said Gomamon cheerfully, "look on the bright side! We've got food and water, you've got brand new crests, we know where we're going for once, and we get to be heroes!" 

Joe looked at Gomamon, cocking his head to one side slightly. Gomamon beamed. He had always wanted to be a hero, always wanted to fight and show lots of courage. Keeping Joe safe and happy was more important, however, and with the personality his partner had, he didn't usually get the chance to fight as much as he would have liked. 

"Seriously Joe, what's on your mind?" asked Palmon. 

Everyone was looking at him expectantly so he sighed and started babbling. "Well, we're in this world and we don't know where we are, and there's just the two of us and we can't get our crests to react and we know people don't get reconfigured, we don't have much food left, that pterodactyl Digimon thought we couldn't beat Virusmon, if he DID show up, we're lost, I should be studying instead of wasting summer vacation, and I just wanna go home!" 

Everyone looked a little surprised at this outburst. Gomamon rifled through Joe's bag and pulled out a biology textbook. Palmon sweatdropped. 

"You brought your homework to the digital world?" 

"Here, Joe!" Gomamon said brightly, "I'll help you study! I'll quiz you! What's a... umm... hey, this thing kinda looks like me, except weird." 

"You're the weird one," said Joe, looking at the picture, "that's just a seal, Gomamon." 

"Hmm." 

"And that walrus, that's probably what Ikkakumon is based on." 

"There is NO WAY I'm as ugly as that thing!" 

"Yeah, you're worse." 

"Joooe, don't be mean!" 

"Well, aren't you gonna quiz me?" 

"Well, I was gonna but I can't actually READ..." 

"Oh, that's a minor setback..." 

"Hey, maybe I can quiz you on the pictures!" 

"Yeah, I'm sure that'll be real helpful. There's definitely going to be a question in the exam like 'what does a seal look like'?" 

"I'm sooo sorry!" 

Joe and Gomamon stopped their joking to look at Mimi in surprise. She looked upset. 

"What for?" asked Joe. 

"It's all my fault! If I hadn't been so stupid and made you come with me, we never would have shown up in this stupid world in the first place!" 

"Don't be ridiculous, Mimi," said Joe, "if anything, it was my fault for getting the keycards wrong." 

"If we're here for a reason, then neither of you should blame yourselves," said Palmon, "this was obviously meant to happen." 

"That's right," said Gomamon, "and besides, aren't we all having a lot of fun on this adventure?" 

"Oh sure, endless walking, it's a blast," said Joe drily. 

"Better than shopping," agreed Mimi with equal sarcasm. Palmon frowned; Mimi was so rarely sarcastic, maybe something was really on her mind. 

"That's the spirit, guys!" said Gomamon happily. 

**_The two talk a little more and then set to work climbing the third mountain. This is a lot of work, and by the time they reach the top, dusk has fallen. The top of the mountain is an enormous plateau with a forest. They walk for a while and meet a Digimon who doesn't attack them because of their crests. They ask him where Perillin is._**

"This forest BECOMES Perillin. If the trees become darker, you'll know you're going the right way!" 

"But the trees are already black..." 

"Yeah, but... well, you'll know it when you see it. You really shouldn't go any further. Very few creatures live around here, Perillin is a stronghold for evil even beyond the level of most virus Digimon." 

"But at least we're on the right track!" said Gomamon happily, and they continued on their way. 

Joe glanced at the others. "I don't know about you guys but I'm becoming really suspicious. People like me shouldn't be having such a run of good luck." 

"You call this good luck?" said Mimi. 

"All the little things. Like that our crests changed into something that would protect us. The fire hydrants actually squirted water when we needed it, instead of producing a Numemon or orange juice or actual fire, like the sort of thing you become used to in the digital world. And now, after only two days of travel, and not really knowing where we're going, we've found ourselves in the exact place we wanted to be." 

"I don't want to be here," said Mimi. 

"You know what I mean..." 

**_They wander around lost for a while and finally find Perillin. The whole place has a terribly dark, oppressive atmosphere. Around midnight, the darkness takes a form, Virusmon, and challenges them. If the carriers of the crests die, that will enable whoever kills them to be transported to their world in their place, and like all mega villains, he is megalomaniacal. He tries to kill the children but their Digimon digivolve to fight._**

Virusmon easily gets the upper hand, and Ikkakumon and Togemon start losing their light, becoming infected with his virus effect, the one that turns all Digimon in that world evil.

"I'll infect all of you! I'll infiltrate your world!" 

"You will NOT!" shouted Mimi, "we simply won't let you!" The thought of Virusmon winning, the thought of him killing them all, the thought of those humans continuing to be mindlessly slaughtered, the thought of him hurting her family and killing her friends... she was filled with passion, and fury. But her crest still didn't react. Why? WHY?! 

"You don't have a choice, girl," said Virusmon. 

Joe watched the horrible creature with a disgusted expression. Somehow, somehow, they had to win... they'd get back to their world, having saved it, and they'd be happy... he realised, suddenly, that for the first time he really wanted to live. Since he had met Mimi... since they had become better friends... there was more of a reason to stay alive. 

Joe's crest suddenly flared to life, actually burning a hole through his shirt, but not harming him. Mimi felt something, pulled her crest out and held it in front of her. It burst into light as well. 

"I get it," said Mimi, "I get why they said my crest would never react... but they were wrong." 

"Huh?" 

"They're linked!" 

"We're linked." 

"Our crests had to react TOGETHER." 

Now the light shot around their Digimon. The petals of Togemon's wilted flower unfurled, stretching out perfect and healthy. Ikkakumon's eyes faded to their usual serene blue. And then... 

"Ikkakumon digivolve to... Oceamon!" 

"Togemon digivolve to... Floraemon!" 

From Joe's crest came a torrent of blue light which took the form of waves, sweeping over and surrounding Ikkakumon until a new Digimon emerged. From Mimi's crest came a yellow light which enveloped Togemon, hiding her from view until it faded and a new Digimon emerged. 

Oceamon was a beautiful, powerful cross between a seal and a dolphin, pure white all over except for his tail, which shimmered all the colours of the spectrum. He hovered in the air, head back, black eyes glinting. 

Floraemon was difficult to see, exactly. Dark, kind eyes, similar to those of Lillymon, shone out from behind a light canopy of leaves, but her whole body, which seemed vaguely human-shaped, was covered with flowers of all kinds, trailing their stems all around each other. The flowers gently moved their petals inwardly and outwardly, as though in sync with her breathing. 

(A/N: I did a little sketch of Oceamon and Floraemon, can be found at http://members.nbci.com/IanThorpe/florocea.jpg) 

Both Digimon had long, white, feathered wings sprouting from their backs. Oceamon's glittered with water droplets, and Floraemon's had slight leafy veins threaded through hers. 

"Tsunami Spiral!" 

A white tidal wave burst out of the ground, and at a gesture from Oceamon, condensed into one pale blue beam which emitted the sound of crashing waves. It flew through the air and hit Virusmon. 

"Photosynthesis!" 

"Photosynthesis?" mouthed Joe in disbelief, wondering what sort of attack that was. The plants seemed to glow in the sunlight and then every flower shot a beam of light that combined into one and hit Virusmon. 

Virusmon did, actually, seem to feel these attacks. He howled in pain and was thrown back, crashing through the black trees. The two kids felt some relief at this; enemies that effortlessly brushed off attacks were always a little scary. 

The three Digimon fought, exchanging blows and attacks, dodging, spinning through the air, deflecting, being struck. Floraemon and Oceamon had the advantage of perfect teamwork, but Virusmon was a lot stronger, and beat them down. 

But they continued to get up. Even when their wings became tattered, ripped, torn, even when Oceamon's tail began to lose some of its colour, when Floraemon's petals wilted, when the two were flung into the ground again, they continued to get up. 

Virusmon became impatient, and targeted the children instead. Oceamon flew in front of Joe, Floraemon in front of Mimi, and the two were struck again and again with beams of darkness. 

"Oceamon!" shouted Joe, "give it up!" 

"Oh no, Floraemon!" screamed Mimi. 

From the black, fairly shapeless form that was Virusmon came two long arms, and taloned hands, which wrapped around Floraemon and Oceamon, choking them. He picked them up and flung them into the distance. They struggled, and got back up, and started to make their way back. 

Virusmon's sulfur-yellow eyes glinted happily, and he laughed, a hissing, horrible sound. 

The two children, suddenly alone, were now both very scared. Even their crests hadn't been enough. There was no chance of anyone else coming to save them. And this terrible, powerful evil was in front of them. 

There has to be something we can do, thought Mimi, desperately, crying. 

Their two Digimon were almost back, winging their way through the trees, but Virusmon was not into delay. He was not the sort to play with his prey and possibly lose his chance at victory. A sort of black mace materialised, and swung through the air at Joe. 

Joe was paralysed, terrified, but Mimi didn't hesitate, running in front of him and knocking him down. The weapon tore through her, a horrible ripping sound echoing through the forest, and she gasped in silent pain, before falling. 

"MIMI!" screamed her travelling partners in unison. 

She slumped there on the ground, face very white, breathing heavily.

"Joe," said Mimi quietly, "I was glad to do something for you." 

"Wha-what do you mean? You did so much already!"

"Sorry... I tried to be helpful, but... I wasn't... good enough."

"Mimi, don't ever say that! You were more than good enough! You were - you were - Mimi... MIMI!"

"I didn't want to go," she said, with a sob in her voice, "I wanted us to be able to... live out the eternity rings, Joe."

"We can live them out," said Joe, desperately, grabbing her hand in his, "please, Mimi! You shouldn't have done that, not for me!"

"But I had to..."

Virusmon stared as Mimi's legs began to disappear. "That is impossible. I eliminated reconfiguration. She should leave a rotting corpse!" 

"How horrible," said Oceamon, "is that what was really wrong with this world? That no data could be reconfigured? That there was no second chance?" 

"Exactly," said Virusmon. 

"Oh, Mimi!" shouted Floraemon, and tried to use her Photosynthesis attack. But she felt as though her strength was leaving her. She dove to her friend's side and leaned next to her, shielding her with her wings, her petals and leaves gently brushing against Mimi's skin. 

Mimi was wide-eyed with horror. It didn't hurt, exactly, but she could feel herself slipping away, feel life being dragged out of her. She could SEE her body disappearing, couldn't feel her legs. It was spreading up her torso. She held her crest with both hands, and with the full power of her passion for living, her crest erupted in its most spectacular reaction yet. 

Joe's crest mirrored it, and their Digimon launced themselves high into the sky, with sudden, new strength. 

"Ocean of Life!" 

"Passion's Bloom!" 

The two Digimon held hands - or more precisely, a vine looped around a flipper - and fired both attacks in sync, each feeding off each other, each strengthened by the other. The two Digimon felt as bonded as the two humans and their crests. From Oceamon exploded all the power and passion of the ocean, from Floraemon the power of living, growing things. 

This attack - for the two attacks had become one - struck Virusmon and the sheer beauty of it could not do anything but destroy him. He screamed, and writhed, and complained, but was reconfigured. 

The sky, which until then had been a dull greying colour, brightened by shades until it was the more traditional blue. The plants seemed to regain life, spreading their leaves to the sun. From the forest came the sound of laughter. The world became beautiful, as Joe and Gomamon stood there. 

Joe, very quietly, stepped over to the egg lying on the ground in front of them and picked it up. On the ground nearby lay Mimi's crest, which once again bore the mark of Sincerity. Joe didn't want to touch it. It was about the only thing he had that gave him proof that Mimi had ever existed. There was a small droplet on the symbol, a teardrop that she must have shed when she died. 

Neither of them spoke for a long time. Gomamon could see that his partner was crying, although he had his face lifted to the sky. The beautiful, ordinary summer sky. For once, the cheerful, happy-go-lucky Digimon could find no words of encouragement. 

"Gomamon," said Joe finally, very slowly as though he didn't trust his voice, "let's go back." 

Joe supported the egg against his waist and bent to pick up the digivice, and crest of Sincerity. He looped it around his neck, and Reliability glowed to welcome it. The teardrop resting on Mimi's crest fell onto his own, and both crests reacted once again, shining light around the two of them, and they disappeared from that world. 

They both missed the small ring that lay on the ground, made clumsily from a daisy pushed through its head. 

   [1]: mailto:leto@nysa.cx



	4. Default Chapter Title

Power of Two, epilogue **Power of Two, epilogue**

Joe woke up. He figured he had been out of it for only a few seconds because he was still lying flat on the ground and hadn't been disturbed. Gomamon was on his back, which made it difficult to stand. He could hear voices all around him. 

"Where did he come from?"

"He just appeared in a flash of light!" 

"Do you think he's hurt?" 

"He's not moving." 

"He's got one of those terrible monsters with him!" 

"It looks harmless enough." 

"I don't think we can trust it. Shouldn't we try to get rid of it before it attacks us?" 

Joe groaned, and heard Gomamon give a mirror groan. He sat up, feeling Gomamon slide onto the ground. Now he looked around, and saw that he was surrounded by people, and city streets, and the skeleton of a building. 

"Gomamon," said Joe, "we're back in the real world." 

"I thought as much," groaned Gomamon, lying on his back. He wriggled his paws, trying to right himself, like a beetle that had been tipped over. Joe flipped him over and looked at the people around him. They fell silent. 

One of them said, "I recognise you, weren't you one of those kids who went up into the sky?" 

Joe nodded. One of them. And maybe the only one who would ever return. One of them, at least, had lost their chance forever. 

"Wow, kid! That's incredible!" 

"How did you come back?" 

"How did you leave in the first place?" 

"What happened?" 

"Who's this monster with you?" 

Joe didn't answer their questions, just looked down at his arms and lap. Empty. 

"What... what happened to the digi-egg I was carrying?" he asked. 

"The egg?" said someone, "you kind of materialised about two feet in the air and fell. You were holding an egg but you landed on it and it smashed and disappeared." 

"Disappeared," repeated Joe, feeling sick. 

"Palmon," said Gomamon, and moment later Joe found himself being nearly crushed by a tight hug from his friend, the flippers pressed into his back. When Joe felt Gomamon's cheek pressed to his, he felt that it was wet and realised that Gomamon was too embarassed to let so many people see him crying. 

"I'm glad you're here," the Digimon whispered, "I'm glad you're still here." Joe knew what he meant. 

Joe awkwardly stood up, still holding tightly to Gomamon, and bowed briefly to their audience, before running off. 

"Joeee, where are we going?" asked Gomamon, with a choking voice. 

"To the city centre," said Joe, grimly. In a frustrated sort of way, he was almost glad to have landed in the wrong world - at least getting back to digiworld would give him something to think about. He could feel Gomamon sobbing against his chest but he wasn't going to think about... it. 

A lot of people stared at him as he ran past them, some even called out, but he didn't register. He did, however, begin to take some notice of his surroundings. A lot of the buildings were destroyed. There was rubble all over the roads, and as such the small amount of traffic that did exist was having difficulty, beeping their horns and taking dangerous paths. 

There was no sign of other Digimon at that moment, although the rifts in the sky still showed the digital world. The oceans and forests of the digiworld were quite bright, although there seemed a faint shade of grey dimming everything in the landscape. All the mountains were black, especially what Joe now recognised as Spiral Mountain, which sent its shadow around the land around it. 

It was strange seeing the digital world this way. It was like looking at a map of places they had been. 

Joe did not know the area of the city he was in very well, but he followed the wreckage as it intensified, and it was not very long before he found the site of VenomMyotismon's attack. 

"Look, there's another one of those monsters!" 

Gomamon looked around blankly. He had stopped crying by now. 

"What's that crazy kid doing?" 

"Hey kid! Get away from that monster before you get yourself hurt!" 

"It's okay," sighed Joe, "he's a friend." 

"It's the sky kid!" 

"Really? You're kidding!" 

"What's he doing here?!" 

Joe ignored them all and walked to the spot where they had left for the digital world. The ground where the digivices had created the gate was white. 

"Gomamon," he said, "I think a gate was already created here. We can go back now. Are you ready." 

"'Course." 

"JOE!" 

He stopped, looked to the source of the voice. Jim. In fact, everyone's families; standing right where they had left them. 

Joe and Gomamon were soon surrounded by people. 

"Joe!" said Jim, slapping him on the back, "how did you get back here?" 

"It's kind of a long story," said Joe. Kind of too long. "I was in a couple of different worlds and then I accidentally came back here. I came back to this spot so I could return to the digital world. Things look pretty bad here, so I guess the battle's not over yet." 

"You think this is bad?" said Jim, gesturing. The city almost seemed grey, a shadow clinging to it. Buildings were wrecked, people scared and there was smoke coming from some way away. 

"Yes, of course," said Joe simply. 

"I can tell you, it was a lot worse right up until about half an hour ago! There were those Digimon monsters everywhere and the city was darker than it is now." 

Joe glanced at his watch. Half an hour ago; that had probably been around the time when they had won that last battle. Won. What a strange word to use. And such a short time since... that. 

But Jim had had the relief of seeing his brother safe. The parents wanted the same reassurance. 

"Is Sora alright?" 

"Has Tai been looking after his sister? Are they both okay?" 

"How has Izzy been holding up?" 

"TK's still alive and well, isn't he?" 

"How's my little girl, how's my Mimi?" 

Joe grimaced at that last one, although all the parents were talking at once, clamouring for news, and all of them became worried at his expression. This was one situation Joe had definitely not wanted, very strongly. 

"Well," he said finally, awkwardly, "like I said, I went between worlds, so I haven't seen most of the others in a couple of days. But the last I saw, everyone was okay." 

"What about-" 

"When did-" 

"My son-" 

"Could you-" 

"Matt decided to go off on his own for a little while - but don't worry! - his Digimon is one of the two strongest and will definitely protect him well. Last I saw, Tai was taking really good care of his sister, and he and Sora are looking after TK as well. Izzy is with them. Two of the four evil Digimon that have been terrorising the digital world were destroyed, the rulers of the sea and the forest." 

Joe gestured to the sky, highlighting the obvious contrast between the sea and forest and the rest of the land. And as they watched, the cities began to dissolve away. For a second, the image of the third Dark Master hovered in the air in front of the humans, but fell apart into pieces and disappeared. 

"Machinedramon!" said Gomamon. 

"There you go," said Joe, trying to sound normal, "it proves that your children are still alive and well. They just defeated the third Dark Master." 

"That means... Piedmon," said Gomamon. The two remembered how Piedmon had effortlessly smashed away Wargreymon and MetalGarurumon. 

"Right," said Joe, "we really can't wait here any longer." 

Joe's digivice began to glow. Mr Tachikawa put a hand on his arm. 

"Joe," he said, "you forgot to mention Mimi. I trust she's okay?" 

He hadn't 'forgotten' at all. He looked into the man's eyes, giving nothing away, and crying inwardly. Gomamon's grip on him tightened a little, either for support or because he was feeling the same way. Joe knew that he could be in the digital world in a few seconds, and could avoid the question. 

He also knew that did not befit his crest. Mimi had been his responsibility. He had failed. And he was the one who had the responsibility to give her parents this news. 

He wasn't sure he could do it. Gomamon pulled the crest of Sincerity from Joe's neck and waved it slightly. 

Joe said, very slowly, not breaking the gaze of the man in front of him, "that is Mimi's crest. It represented Sincerity and Passion. She saved three worlds. She was a great... a great friend. And she died bravely." 

He swallowed hard, still looking into Mr Tachikawa's eyes. He saw the sudden shock and pain that he knew must mirror his own. He had been worried that he would be blamed. He had been blamed for many things. But perhaps the man could see that the boy in front of him felt the same way. 

Mrs Tachikawa started crying loudly, nearing hysteria. Tai and Izzy's parents moved to try to comfort her, to reassure her. Her husband did not, he needed his strength for himself. 

Gomamon was crying again, as the digivice glowed more brightly and began to pull them into the sky again. They were jolted to a stop, suddenly. The light pulled them up, and Mr Tachikawa held Joe's foot, preventing him from leaving. 

"Take me with you," he said, very firmly. 

"I can't," said Joe, "not without a digivice, and without your own Digimon it's dan-" 

"I don't care. Who killed my Mimi? I have to find them, don't you understand?" 

"I'm coming too," said Mrs Tachikawa suddenly, still sounding precariously close to hysteria but with surprising firmness. 

"The Digimon that killed her," said Joe, still in the same careful, calm voice, "was in turn killed by us, I assure you." 

"'Us'?" 

"Me. Gomamon. Mimi's Digimon. And Mimi herself, with the last of her power. About, oh, thirty-five minutes ago." 

"You and Mimi were travelling together?" 

"Thirty-five minutes?!" 

"I'm sorry," said Joe, "it was really such a short time ago..." He suddenly thought of something. "There may still be hope though. She didn't leave a body, so she may be reconfigured somehow." 

Gomamon glanced at Joe. He was surprised that his partner could sound so cold, calm, and practical, considering the subject matter. He knew that Joe didn't believe for a moment that Mimi could come back. 

But Joe's words surprised Mimi's father enough to make him loosen his hold, and the two friends were taken to the digital world.

***

"Matt!" 

Matt and Gabumon looked around in surprise, then smiled. 

"Hey Joe, Gomamon. Where are the others?" 

"Oh, we thought we'd move off on our own too." 

"To find yourself?" 

"I think I found myself." 

"Oh... and?" 

"And I'd rather I didn't. Do you know whereabouts the others are? We should all help fight Piedmon so we can be finished with this." 

"You sound different, Joe. Of course I'll come for the final battle, but I'm not finished here yet." 

"Not finished? What do you need to do?" 

"There's still... something I gotta figure out." 

"Matt, don't be selfish!" 

"What?! YOU left too! How dare you call ME selfish?! If I can't work out why I am the way I am, I'll never be good for anything!" 

"Well, you'll never be good for anything if you stay here and let your friends die!" 

"Die?! Now listen, Joe -" 

"Matt, just COME." 

The two boys glared at each other, locking eyes. Matt found, to his surprise, that Joe did not back down and did not look away. In fact, -he- was the one to turn away first. 

"Let's go," he sighed. 

Gomamon became Zudomon, again being able to access the power of Reliability, and the kids followed digivice signals. When they reached the end of any bodies of water, Zudomon dedigivolved and Garurumon carried the three of them instead. It did not take a very long time for the kids to reunite with the main group. 

"Matt! Matt!" 

TK caught sight of the four travellers first, and ran up to them happily. Matt grabbed him in a tight hug, for once not seeming to mind that everyone else was watching. 

"Hey, Joe!" said Tai, "where's Mimi?" 

Matt looked at him, surprised. "Mimi went with him? Did you guys have a fight or something?" 

"Don't be so stupid, Matt," snapped Joe, and everyone was surprised to hear Joe speaking so sharply. 

"We're looking for Piedmon right now," said Sora, "if she's near here, it would be best to find her again so that the whole team's here for the final battle." 

"I'd LIKE to find her again," said Joe, and was silent for a moment. This awful responsibility again, to tell everyone. Every time he said it, it made it sound worse, more real.

He forced the words out quickly. "She died, she's dead." 

"WHAT?!" screamed everyone at once. 

"Yeah, right," said Izzy, "that sort of joke is really not funny, Joe." 

Matt didn't say anything. He thought that Joe's altered manner might mean he WAS speaking the truth. And now, Joe just bowed his head and closed his eyes. The kids fell silent and looked at him, realising from his face that he wasn't joking. 

"How did - she can't have - that's just... weren't you supposed to look after her?!" shouted Tai. 

"I tried," said Joe weakly, "I tried..." 

"Well, obviously you didn't try hard enough, Joe! How could you let this happen? You coward, you IDIOT!" 

Tai moved forward, tears in his eyes, and slammed Joe in the chest, knocking the taller boy down. He moved to punch him in the face. Tai was furious, and now Gomamon was too. Gomamon jumped up, deflected the blow and scratched Tai across the face. 

"YOU WEREN'T THERE!" screamed Gomamon, "don't you EVER hurt Joe! He did his best! You weren't there, so you don't know what happened!" 

Tai held his face and glared at Gomamon. "What's to know? Joe obviously screwed up again!" 

"HE DID NOOOOOOOOT!" shouted Gomamon. The other kids took a step back. They had never seen Gomamon so upset. The seal glared right back at Tai. "You don't understand a thing! Don't you know that Joe loved Mimi more than any of you did, and the other way around? She ran out to protect him and got hit first before any of us could do anything!" 

"Well... I bet he coulda done SOMETHING..." said Tai weakly, "I bet... I don't get why... I just... I don't know." 

He sighed. "How can we defeat Piedmon with only seven crests and digivices?" 

"I have Mimi's," said Joe softly, and then, with conviction - "they'll react to me, I know they will." 

"But, how -" 

Matt interrupted. Joe hadn't taken offense at Tai's question - which had mostly been asked out of not knowing what else to say - but he did. "What sort of question is that, Tai?! Mimi's GONE and all you can think about is beating Piedmon? Get your priorities straight!" 

"Hey, Matt, why don't you just - shut up!" 

The two looked as if they were going to fight again. 

"CUT IT OUT!" shouted TK. 

Everyone suddenly looked at Joe. He had slumped to the ground, and was crying. Nobody had seen him cry before. They were all silent, watching him, feeling the same sickness in their hearts, although they could never feel it to the same degree as him. 

And he cried, for the people he had disappointed, for the horror of fighting, for the smashed digi-egg, and most of all, for Mimi. The first and only person who had given him something. Beyond caring, beyond partnership, beyond teammates, beyond friendship, beyond trust, beyond love. She had trusted him with who she really was, and he had done the same with her. They had been linked.

He pressed his hand to his face, lips touching a wilting flower on his ring finger. 

The two of them had discovered their power in each other. 


End file.
